Next week marks the first anniversary of the Gleneagles Action Plan for Africa. Simon Maxwell, Director of the Overseas Development Institute, the UK’s leading independent think tank on international development and humanitarian issues, commented that:
‘The campaigning NGOs who queued up to dismiss the pledges to Africa at Gleneagles last year have been proved wrong – up to a point. The trade talks are still faltering and reform of the UN is half-finished business. But debt relief and more aid has begun to materialise and make a real difference to the health, education and well-being of real people in the poorest countries.’